People's Movement of Ukraine

The People's Movement of Ukraine, also known as Rukh, is a liberal-conservative political party in Ukraine that was founded on 9 February 1990. The party owed its creation to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's Glasnost policies, and it had a diverse range of members, ranging from liberal-communists to integralist nationalists. The movement initially supported Gorbachev's reforms, but it later conducted an independence referendum in the Ukrainian SSR in response to the Russification efforts in the country. The party was instrumental in achieving Ukrainian independence in 1991, but it would not remain a major party in post-independence Ukrainian politics. The party supported Ukrainian national statehood, rebuilding the national economy as a freely competitive market system, facilitating the development of private entrepreneurship, ensuring social security for every citizen, social assistance for those in need, pension reform, Ukrainian cultural revival, integration into the European Union and NATO, and democracy.